1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephone paystations, and more particularly to a shield for addition to the upper housing of conventional paystations that provides substantial protection from vandalism and burglaries.
2. Background Art
Armored housings, both upper and lower, to protect telephone paystations began to appear a few years ago in certain metropolitan areas where vandalism and burglary were frequently found. Such armored housings typically included the use of welded steel plates added to the outside of conventional housings and bolted on plates to the inside of standard paystation upper housings. Such arrangements were made to strengthen the unit and generally provide greater security. In many instances, special plates were welded on to protect the keypad (pushbutton calling device) area. However, in existing face plates, even after modification, conventional instruction windows, graphics, keypads, etc., were utilized and thus were still subject to substantial vandalism. Many telephone companies developed their own protective facilities for paystation housing.
While paystations so equipped were rather imposing in appearance, these arrangements did not actually offer a great deal of protection commensurate with the substantial additional cost involved therein. In such arrangements there is an extra layer of metal to go through. Once this is accomplished there becomes open space to and around the lock assembly which is the preferred access usually utilized by professional burglars. To provide the necessary protection at this point, however, a lock protector was developed and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,373 assigned to the same assignee as the present application.
True protection, however, is a subjective thing, particularly when viewed from the telephone operating company's viewpoint. The lock protector, although effective, offers no outside imposing evidence of its presence, thus it is not the total solution for many telephone companies. Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a new and improved high security shield for the upper housing of the telephone paystation which provides an impressive appearance, therefore suggesting to potential thieves or vandals that the unit is protected from their activities.